How The Education (Re)Open is Meeting the Moment

Learning happens best in communities, but navigating how to stay connected and learn and teach through a lockdown turned out to be more complex than most could have envisioned. The emotional toll of COVID-19 coupled with inefficiencies of remote learning made it an intense struggle for millions of students, such as in Los Angeles County.

Prior to the pandemic, the Andrew Nikou Foundation (ANF) started partnering with USC Center EDGE (part of USC Rossier School of Education) to create new education approaches. Our focus then shifted following the lockdown to help school communities move through the trauma of grief and loss, and arrive back in community with a renewed energy and confidence for the 2021-22 academic year.

In the spirit of community learning, we teamed up with IDEO to explore how we might reconnect people and enhance collective wellbeing, teaching, and learning. The USC Center EDGE brought their commitment to creative and scalable approaches to innovative education while IDEO offered human-centered design thinking, and together we launched The Education (Re)Open.

The program’s first initiative invited teachers, parents, students and others navigating K-12 back-to-school challenges to offer solutions that could most easily be implemented in classrooms.

As a result of this community effort, the top solutions are featured on the Education Solutions Exchange, a repository of ideas that can help school communities prepare for the upcoming academic year. The Education Solutions Exchange will continue to serve as a space for the community to share as the academic year unfolds. Our hope is that The Education (Re)Open ignites the imagination of other school districts and states to implement and build out this community playbook, and facilitate a call for more solutions adapted to their needs.

We look forward to continuing our learning and to discovering more opportunities for ANF to accompany communities in the field of education innovation.

Visit the Education Solutions Exchange to learn more.

We ♥ Teacher Appreciation Week!

As first responder-educators to all the students living through the year that the pandemic knocked over, we cannot possibly know what kind of a year you have all gone through. What we do know for certain is that we are hugely humbled by your unwavering commitment to your work, grateful for your steadfastness in the face of all the challenges school communities have faced since March 2020.

While we have always acknowledged that becoming and being an educator is not for the faint of heart, we want to take this opportunity to honor all the educators out there.

In celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week, we have teamed up with the wonderful facilitators at Mindful Toolbox to offer educators a combination of live and recorded offerings of mindful practices, meditations, and thoughtful content. Their mission is to provide you with daily strategies to renew and recharge. We hope you join Mindful Toolbox for a connected moment each day as you navigate the transitions of teaching in this moment. 

You will find the schedule and links to access below:

*All participants will have FREE access to register for a follow-up workshop on Stress Management for Educators.

Resources:

Website: Mindfultoolbox.org

Instagram: @mindfultoolbox

Facebook: Mindful Toolbox

Here’s to you! We honor your perseverance, professionalism, and love of your craft and students.

Warmly,

The Andrew Nikou Foundation

El Centro EDGE de USC lanza La (Re)Apertura de la Educación: Cómo aprovechar las soluciones más innovadoras y oportunas para la educación dentro y fuera de LA

Cómo captar, seleccionar e implementar las mejores ideas y prácticas para ayudar a los estudiantes, educadores y familias a superar los enormes desafíos en materia de enseñanza y aprendizaje profundizados drásticamente por la pandemia

LOS ÁNGELES — Después de un año de grandes desafíos al intentar superar las profundas brechas y necesidades, y a medida que muchas familias comienzan la lenta reintegración a experiencias de educación presencial en Los Ángeles y en todo el país, La (Re)Apertura de la Educación ofrece a estudiantes, padres, docentes, autoridades escolares y a la comunidad educativa en general la oportunidad de pensar en el contexto integral para reactivar la educación con abordajes más seguros, inteligentes, sólidos e inclusivos.

Mientras los educadores, estudiantes y familias de toda la región continúan luchando para lograr que la educación a distancia funcione en condiciones extraordinariamente difíciles, La (Re)Apertura de la Educación les brinda la oportunidad de intercambiar conocimientos y ser parte de la solución a través de la creación de Solutions Exchange (Intercambio de Soluciones), un repositorio público de soluciones destinadas a brindar apoyo a la comunidad educativa. La (Re)Apertura de la Educación, patrocinado por la Fundación Andrew Nikou, distribuirá $1,000 en premios a las soluciones que finalmente se ofrezcan a través de Solutions Exchange, junto con el asesoramiento de expertos en educación.

Visita la plataforma para escuchar las voces de estudiantes, educadores, docentes y padres y entender por qué necesitan La (Re)Apertura de la Educación.

El público puede presentar ideas y soluciones para La (Re)Apertura de la Educación a través de la plataforma abierta de innovación de IDEO www.theEducationReOpen.org a partir de hoy, 23 de marzo. Los ganadores se anunciarán durante la semana del 7 de junio de 2021, simultáneamente con el lanzamiento de Solutions Exchange. El repositorio Solutions Exchange incluirá las ideas más innovadoras, realistas y versátiles para que los ecosistemas educativos de Los Ángeles y de otras áreas puedan usar como repositorio público de soluciones para mejorar las comunidades escolares. Durante el verano de 2021, las soluciones más destacadas tendrán

la oportunidad de implementarse en toda la región, para que puedan adoptarse en otras escuelas en el semestre escolar de otoño de 2021. Accede a la Información Completa de La (Re)Apertura de la Educación

La (Re)Apertura de la Educación cuenta con el apoyo de un amplio grupo de socios, incluidos:

“Cuando se presenta un desafío de tal magnitud que afecta a todo el sistema educativo mientras la sociedad en su conjunto enfrenta una pandemia, debemos innovar, y debemos hacerlo aprovechando al máximo todos los recursos a nuestra disposición. Atravesamos un momento histórico, y mediante soluciones de crowdsourcing implementadas por quienes más saben del tema, no solo podemos resolver los graves problemas que nos plantea la COVID-19 sino también luchar contra las desigualdades de larga data en el aprendizaje y la enseñanza que afectan a la enseñanza en general”, explica Alan Arkatov, Director Fundador del Centro EDGE de USC.

“El año pasado, los estudiantes, educadores y padres del Condado de Los Ángeles demostraron más ingenio, dedicación y compromiso que nunca”, declaró Debra Duardo, de la Superintendencia de Escuelas de la Oficina de Educación del Condado de Los Ángeles. “Este desafío nos ofrece la oportunidad única de difundir lo que ha funcionado bien para los estudiantes y compartir ese conocimiento con un público más amplio. Tenemos confianza en nuestra comunidad educativa, y necesitamos que nos guíen en la recuperación de nuestra región.”

“Somos conscientes de que el statu quo anterior a la pandemia no funcionaba para muchos de nuestros jóvenes más vulnerables. Hoy nos encontramos en un punto de inflexión con la posibilidad de implementar nuevos abordajes y nuevos recursos para apoyar los esfuerzos de recuperación”, explica el Dr. John Garcia, Presidente de la Fundación Educativa de Greater LA, Condado de Los Ángeles.

“Las escuelas católicas de la Arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles se complacen en formar parte de La (Re)Apertura de la Educación”, declaró Paul M. Escala, Superintendente de Escuelas de la Arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles. “Nos complace colaborar con el desarrollo de soluciones de enseñanza y aprendizaje para enfrentar los grandes desafíos y oportunidades que enfrentan nuestros estudiantes, hoy y en el futuro.”

“La pandemia ha requerido que nuestros docentes y escuelas demuestren una capacidad de creatividad y adaptación extraordinaria”, explica Deborah Dowling, Ph.D., Directora Ejecutiva de la Asociación de Escuelas Independientes de California. “Difundir las ideas y soluciones más efectivas beneficiará a todos nuestros estudiantes.”

“Nuestro sistema educativo es inadecuado y, en el caso de muchos estudiantes, fracasa incluso antes de que lleguen a nosotros. La pandemia de COVID-19 no ha hecho sino agravar estos problemas. Con la reapertura de las escuelas, debemos plantearnos la necesidad de fortalecer la inclusión y fomentar las condiciones necesarias para derribar las barreras que nos separan”, explica Andrew Nikou, Presidente de la Fundación Andrew Nikou y líder fundador de La (Re)Apertura de la Educación.

La Re(Apertura) de la Educación invita a presentar soluciones a todos los interesados en ayudar a las comunidades educativas a navegar la pandemia y reanudar la presencialidad, a través de la plataforma online intuitiva y accesible que les permite colaborar y compartir ideas y soluciones. La (Re)Apertura de la Educación identificó tres temas diferentes para clasificar las ideas de los participantes y garantizar el mayor impacto posible: Reconexión de las Comunidades (Communities Reconnecting); Enseñanza, Aprendizaje y Liderazgo Colaborativos (Collaborative Teaching, Learning, and Leadership); y Salud y Bienestar Colectivos (Collective Health and Wellbeing).

Financiamiento principal de la Fundación Andrew Nikou, con financiamiento adicional de Great Public Schools Now, Fundación Joseph Drown, Fundación Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert, Fundación Annenberg y la Iniciativa Chan Zuckerberg.

La (Re)Apertura de la Educación es posible gracias al apoyo de las siguientes instituciones:

Centro EDGE de USC
Con base en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación Rossier de USC, el Centro EDGE (Centro para la Educación Global basada en el Compromiso) fomenta alianzas interdisciplinarias para promover la innovación relevante y sustentable en el área crítica del compromiso con la educación: las actividades y técnicas utilizadas para impulsar la mejora en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje.

Fundación Andrew Nikou
La misión de la Fundación Andrew Nikou es cristalizar los valores de humanidad, conexión, colaboración y escalabilidad. Mediante inversiones y alianzas estratégicas, la Fundación trabaja codo a codo con quienes proponen ideas innovadoras y soluciones visionarias que pueden impulsar la transformación.

IDEO
IDEO es una firma global de diseño reconocida por su abordaje humano e interdisciplinario. IDEO genera un impacto positivo a través del diseño, inspirado en una mentalidad y capacidades creativas, enseñándoles a los demás a hacer lo mismo. IDEO cuenta con una plataforma abierta de innovación denominada OpenIDEO, a través de la cual personas de todo el mundo pueden trabajar de forma colaborativa para superar los problemas más difíciles que afectan a nuestro planeta a través de desafíos, programas y otras experiencias diseñadas a medida.

USC Center EDGE Launches The Education (Re)Open: Harnessing Innovative and Timely Solutions for Education Inside and Outside of LA

Capturing, curating, and implementing the best ideas and practices to help students, educators, and families address the massive teaching and learning challenges that the pandemic has dramatically accelerated

LOS ANGELES — After a year of massive challenges in trying to address huge gaps and needs, and as many families begin to return to in-person learning experiences in LA and across the country, The Education (Re)Open offers students, parents, teachers, school leaders, and education stakeholders the opportunity to think big and restart education in ways that are safer, smarter, stronger and more inclusive.

With educators, students, and families across the region continuing to struggle to make distance learning work under extraordinarily difficult conditions, The Education (Re)Open offers them the opportunity to share their collective wisdom and be a part of the solution, helping to create the Solutions Exchange, a public repository of solutions to support school communities. The Education (Re)Open, powered by the Andrew Nikou Foundation, will award $1,000 prizes to solutions that are ultimately featured on the Solutions Exchange, along with advice from education experts.

Visit the platform to hear the voices of students, educators, teachers and parents talk about why they need The Education (Re)Open.

The public can submit ideas and solutions for The Education (Re)Open on IDEO’s open innovation platform at www.TheEducationReOpen.org beginning today, March 23rd. Prize winners will be announced during the week of June 7, 2021, in concert with the launch of the public Solutions Exchange. This Exchange will include the most innovative, achievable, and adaptable ideas that will serve LA and other educational ecosystems as a public repository of solutions that can help improve school communities. Over Summer 2021, the top solutions will be given the opportunity to be implemented throughout the region, so that they can embed in partner schools for the Fall, 2021 school semester. Access the full Education (Re)Open Brief here.

The Education (Re)Open is supported by a broad group of partners, including:

“When faced with a challenge as momentous as our entire education system and society being ravaged by a pandemic, we must innovate — and do it in ways that fully utilize all of our resources. This is a historic moment in time, and by crowd-sourcing solutions and implementation by those that know it best, we can not only address the plethora of issues caused by COVID-19, but the long-standing teaching and learning inequities across all of education,” said Alan Arkatov, Founding Director of USC Center EDGE.

“Students, educators and parents from across Los Angeles County have demonstrated unprecedented ingenuity, dedication and commitment over the past year,” said Debra Duardo, LA County Office of Education Superintendent of Schools Debra Duardo. “This challenge is an incredible opportunity to promote what has worked for students and share those insights with a broad audience. We believe in our education community – and we need their guidance through our regional recovery.”

“We know that the status quo before the pandemic was failing many of our most vulnerable young people. We are now at an inflection point, where new approaches are possible and new resources to support recovery efforts are available,” said Dr. John Garcia, President of the Greater LA Los Angeles County Education Foundation.

“The Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are excited to be a part of The Education (Re)Open,” said Paul M. Escala, Superintendent of Schools of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. “We are proud to contribute towards fostering teaching and learning solutions to meet the many challenges and opportunities our students face now and in the future.”

“The pandemic has demanded extraordinary creativity and adaptability from our teachers and from our schools,” said Deborah Dowling, Ph.D., Executive Director of the California Association of Independent Schools. “Sharing the most effective ideas and solutions will help all of our students.”

“Our education system is inadequate, failing many students before they even arrive within school doors — and COVID-19 only exacerbated these issues. As schools reopen, we need to think about deep inclusion and cultivate environments that dismantle the barriers between us,” said Andrew Nikou, President of the Andrew Nikou Foundation and the lead funder for The Education (Re)Open.

The Education (Re)Open invites solutions from anyone interested in supporting school communities as they navigate the pandemic and reopen in-person to use the intuitive and accessible online platform to collaborate, and share ideas and solutions. The Education (Re)Open has identified three distinct themes for participants to align their ideas to ensure they can have the greatest possible impact: Communities Reconnecting; Collaborative Teaching, Learning, and Leadership; and Collective Health and Well-being.

Lead funding provided by the Andrew Nikou Foundation with additional funds provided by Great Public Schools Now, Joseph Drown Foundation, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

The Education (Re)Open is made possible by:

USC Center EDGE
Based at the USC Rossier School of Education, Center EDGE (Center for Engagement-Driven Global Education) fuels interdisciplinary partnerships to bring relevant, sustainable innovation to scale in the crucial area of educational engagement – the activities and techniques used to improve teaching and learning outcomes.

Andrew Nikou Foundation
Andrew Nikou Foundation is committed to embodying the values of humanity, connection, collaboration and scalability. Through strategic investments and partnerships, the Foundation works side by side with people who are driving innovative ideas and visionary solutions that make a difference.

IDEO
IDEO is a global design company known for its human-centered, interdisciplinary approach. IDEO creates a positive impact through design by applying creative mindsets and skills, and by teaching others to do the same. OpenIDEO is IDEO’s open innovation platform, where people from all corners of the world collaboratively tackle some of the toughest global issues through launching challenges, programs, and other tailored experiences.

Have a stake in K-12 education? Help us highlight education (re)opening solutions!

Calling everyone with a stake in K-12 education as school sites navigate the pandemic and reopen in-person! Join The Education (Re)Open, and show us your solution to the question:

How might we strengthen school communities, as sites reopen, by highlighting solutions that reconnect people and enhance collective wellbeing, teaching, and learning?

As we socially distanced to keep each other safe, other gaps grew — in learning losses, inequities, between communities and individuals. Isolation and overwhelm became familiar states for too many. Yet, the ingenuity of school communities not only persisted — but flourished.

Help us spotlight, share, and scale this ingenuity!

IDEO, in partnership with USC Center Edge and Andrew Nikou Foundation, is launching a five-week sprint. While we’re especially interested in solutions for the Los Angeles area — a region rich in diversity and imagination, but also severely impacted by COVID-19 — we’re also focused on ones with nationwide impact.

Have you discovered something that helps everyone be more connected or empowered, despite social distancing or remote learning? Do you have a brilliant idea for helping people feel better, learn better, or teach better? Could your solution help all types of learners,
in all zip codes? Have you made exciting partnerships across sectors that inspire revolutionary approaches?

High-quality solutions will be globally accessible in a searchable bank for widespread sharing, and may be implemented as early as August across Los Angeles and beyond. In addition, select submissions receive a share of funding, professional learning, and technology support through TED Masterclass.

All education professional participants receive a 3-month Heartbeat subscription. The Education (Re)Open is a chance to reconnect school communities for the better — in this moment and beyond.

USC Center EDGE, Andrew Nikou Foundation, and IDEO came together to elevate solutions that can support school communities to reconnect and enhance collective wellbeing, teaching, and learning as sites reopen. Together we’re inviting solutions from everyone navigating the challenges facing school communities during the pandemic and beyond— especially from those in the greater Los Angeles region. Our hope is this inaugural (Re)Open invitation framework helps galvanize other districts/regions to surface working solutions that may benefit larger communities. The solutions with the greatest potential to meet the needs of school communities as sites reopen will be featured in a searchable, public Solutions Exchange, launching in time to help school communities prepare for the upcoming school year. The Education (Re)Open is more than an open call for solutions; it’s a chance to reconnect people and enhance collective wellbeing, teaching, and learning—for this moment and into the future.

Call launches March 23. Sign up here to follow the journey!

America’s Road Ahead

America has voted and whatever the outcome of this election is, we know one thing. We are going to have to come together and treat each other with respect and dignity.

These months in quarantine have made many of us come together and lean on each other in meaningful ways. How we connect as people is not determined by a president, a policy, or a political party but by the kindness we choose to show each other in hard times. Regardless of the result of this election, let’s all choose to be better, to be kinder.